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The Methodist Hospital in Houston has handled 11 cases of bloodless lung transplant surgeries. Dr. Scott Scheinin said patient selection is important in reducing risk, and his team members hope their work can help limit the need for transfusions in a broad range of procedures.

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Affymax and Takeda Pharmaceutical have recalled Omontys, or peginesatide, following reports of serious allergic reactions and three deaths. The drug is used to treat anemia in patients undergoing kidney dialysis. Three deaths and 16 other cases of severe reactions have been reported, according to the FDA.

Dr. Patricia Ford, director of Pennsylvania Hospital's Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, has performed her 100th bloodless stem cell transplant on a Jehovah's Witness patient. Ford undertook the world's first bloodless stem cell transplant 15 years ago. Her blood-management methods have become standard procedures at the hospital and have allowed about one-third of her regular transplant patients to avoid transfusions.

Dr. Michael Lill at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and Dr. Patricia Ford at the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital are reportedly the only physicians in the U.S. who offer bloodless stem cell transplants to treat Hodgkin's disease for people whose religious convictions do not allow blood transfusions. The procedure involves raising the patient's hemoglobin count before the transplant to reduce the need for a transfusion.

Bloodless surgery is becoming more common due to blood shortages as well as some religious and personal beliefs that prohibit the use of transfusions. A transplant surgeon in Oklahoma who has conducted 30 bloodless liver transplants said that using less blood or no blood can be better for patients in some instances but that transfusions also can be essential and lifesaving.